Celebrating Six Years of Better Health Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act

It’s been six years since President Obama signed the historic Affordable Care Act into law, and on this anniversary, we celebrate significant gains in the number of Marylanders who are now insured and accessing more affordable care and coverage protections.

Since the ACA was signed into law on March 23, 2010, the uninsured rate for Marylanders has declined to 6 percent, tied for fourth-best in the nation, with more than 1.2 million enrolled through Maryland Health Connection.

Significant drops in the uninsured rate are most prominent among African American and Hispanic Marylanders: the rate of uninsured African-American Marylanders declined from 15 percent in 2016-2010 to 7 percent in 2015, and for Hispanic Marylanders, declined from 39 percent to 15 percent in that time.

We also celebrate that Marylanders with pre-existing conditions like cancer, diabetes or HIV can no longer be denied coverage, and the ACA eliminated lifetime and annual limits on insurance coverage. Preventive care like checkups and many screenings are covered for free.

The ACA also provides tax credits to make health insurance more affordable. Since January 2015, more than 60,000 Maryland households received a total of nearly $275 million in federal tax credits to lower their cost of health insurance. Medicaid expansion in Maryland under the ACA also has allowed about 240,000 low-income adults to gain access to free health coverage.

And most importantly, we celebrate that the ACA in making a critical difference in Marylanders’ health and lives every day.

In Silver Spring, Melanie celebrated that her husband was able to finally have a surgery he needed because of a plan through Maryland Health Connection, calling the experience “life changing.”

In Baltimore, Angel, a mother of two, got covered in time to find and treat a major heart condition. “Having this insurance allows me medical treatment to spend more time with my kids. I am [truly] grateful for it.”